Today, a Kensington and Chelsea council worker admitted defrauding around £60,000 from the Grenfell victim fund. She is among others who have also attempted to claim money by deception and fraud from the Grenfell disaster by claiming they were temporary tenants. I will not name these people because I feel that they are just as much victims of the system as everyone else in this tragedy. That is not to say I am justifying or condoning these people's actions.
Like everyone else who witnessed the tragedy unfolding before our eyes (curtesy of the many witnesses who videoed it on their mobile phones) I was stunned and appalled by the events that took place over many hours. It also occurs to me that if these eye witnesses hadn't recorded these events, there might just have been a coverup of what actually happened.
It occurs to me, not because I am overly cynical, but because I have seen nothing but a "cover up" of the truth throughout the whole tragedy. A "whitewash" even before the tragedy took place from the very top to the very bottom of society. Let me now explain why.
Take a look at the pictures above. They are the visual and symbolic illustrations of the tragedy of Grenfell Tower and also the divisions in our society in UK and the western world today.
Most people in Britain know that Kensington and Chelsea is one of the richest boroughs in the UK. However, up until the last two decades or so it was one of poorest. When it was poor, the rich started to move in and buy up the houses because it was a buyer's market and they snapped up the rundown houses and refurbished them. As a result the poor tenants were priced out of the big houses and housed in the tower blocks which are round the corner from the big houses. Interestingly, up until a decade or so ago, these people were usually referred to as "council house tenants", but now that has been replaced by the term "social housing" tenants. This is in itself indicative and illustrates well the divisive nature that society has been heading towards during the last two decades. The implication is that "council houses" now contain people who need "social housing", in other words they are not just poor but somehow lesser than the working classes and are in special need. In other words demonised and diminished by societies standards, somehow lesser than all the other strata of society, in need of help. As such they are prejudged as perhaps uneducated and therefore fair game to be disrespected and not taken seriously when complaining about living standards in their dwellings.
If you look at the two pictures above, you will see Grenfell Tower before and after the cladding was applied to the building. The cladding was applied as a direct result of the rich neighbours in their beautiful big houses having to cast their superior eyes upon the ugly façade and crying out for a face lift to be applied. Their wish was granted by Kensington and Chelsea council, but as we all know by now, they cut corners and did it on the cheap. They knowingly did this. They also disregarded the many complaints about the cladding which where submitted by many tenants and which stated that they thought the cladding was a dangerous fire hazard due to the fact that it was attached inches from the wall and the gusts of wind could be felt inside the flats. It has since been witnessed and verified by all involved that the fire swept up the tower so rapidly because of that reason and also because of the inferior and dangerous nature of the cladding itself.
The tenants who made some of these complaints are alive and very articulate and educated tenants of Grenfell Tower. But they were not listened to and were totally disregarded by Kensington and Chelsea council. The council also disregarded other complaints from the tenants regarding the heating boilers that were installed just outside the front doors of tenants' flats instead of being installed inside their flats. This was another instance of a dangerous fire hazard that was ignored and dismissed by the council. It can be argued that it was because of their attitude towards tenants who are looked upon as somehow lesser than the rest of society. Kensington and Chelsea council carried out the wishes of the gentrified owners of the nice big houses and covered up the ugly building with substandard cladding. They totally disregarded the warnings about danger to the lives of the tenants.
When these "council house" tenants somehow changed status to the lowest rung of society by being referred to as tenants of "social housing", they somehow lost all credibility as having any voice or intelligence in the eyes of society or indeed the council. Therefore, the rich people in their lovely big houses didn't want to be reminded that they moved into a poor neighbourhood and gentrified it by driving the poor people who once lived in their houses out. So, in an effort to further gentrify and cover up the ugly "social housing", they demanded nicer looking cladding. You could say, the guilt was shrouded in the cladding. However, they where not aware then that it would be done on the cheap and that ironically it would eventually wipe out many of the unsightly poor, literarily. The poor "socially housed" tenants who don't deserve to be listened to by the council.
Following the disaster, many of the surrounding neighbours came together to help the victims of the tower block. They set up places in buildings in the neighbourhood and donations pored in from all over. The whole world looked on in horror, shocked and stunned by what had happened and by now they had the "back" story unfolding too. The Prime Minister, drove up in her big car but shunned a meeting with the people who live in "social housing" and who suffered the torture of the damned. She instead wanted to meet the people of the council. After all, she wouldn't want to talk to "social housing" tenants, no she wanted to talk to Kensington and Chelsea council workers. She wanted to talk to the very people who caused the tragedy, not the people who suffered it. She has since seen the error of her ways and apologised.
When it is deemed by society in general that certain races, or members or groups or classes of society are lesser than or far below or less relevant than others, it engenders prejudice, hatred and division. It can cause tragedy, misery and even death. The Nazi party engendered hatred and division among the German and the Jewish society who lived together and we know the consequences of that. It might seem a gross exaggeration to compare the holocaust with what happened in Grenfell Tower, but it is not a million miles away. In fact it is closer in comparison that might be thought. When there is division and prejudice, what follows is mistrust, hatred, guilt and even death.
Which brings me to the council worker and the bogus tenants who proceeded to claim money and defraud the Grenfell Victim Fund. It is claimed that these fraudsters felt no shame or guilt or repentance, or remorse for their actions. Society in general condemns this behaviour and looks on in disbelief and horror that this could happen. That people could be so cold and calculated and try to benefit from such a tragedy. That they could take from the families that have suffered such trauma, loss and grief.
Yes, that is the good and proper reaction to such behaviour. But, it can be argued that it is symptomatic of the general malaise at large in society today. When some members of society look around at the general attitude towards the poor and the tenants of "social housing" and the way that they are treated and the way that people disrespect them that will have an affect. That might seep into the consciousness of every member of society in Britain and then people will behave accordingly. The people who have defrauded may feel "lesser" too. They may feel that if the "higher up" classes who live in the big houses around the corner from Grenfell Tower (or even the Prime Minister) can disrespect them, then so can they. If the poor folks lives in Grenfell Tower are not worth very much then surely I can take from them too. Of course this is justifying their behaviour, but so were the reasons which lead up to the tragedy.
If people say that society must try to learn from it's mistakes, then surely it must do so from this tragedy. When I mentioned earlier that it would have been a "Whitewash" if it hadn't been filmed I will try to explain why. When I see the picture of Grenfell Tower (above) with the covers on and the words "Forever in our hearts", it seems to me to be like a symbolic cover up as well as an actual one. Once again the rich neighbours couldn't bare to look at the burnt out ghost of Grenfell Tower. Once again unconscious guilt had lead to covering up the ugly truth. How ironic that we really haven't learnt anything from this tragedy. We do not as a society examine the real cause and effect. We try to cover up the mess instead of truly understanding and rectifying our mistakes. The culprits are still unnamed and go unpunished. But we will prosecute people who defraud monies from the victims. Well, we say to ourselves at least we can be seen to do that.
This was a tragedy born from division and class hatred and disrespect. The whole world watched in horror as people burned alive in a building which looked like a scene from Hell. They were told to stay inside their flats and they obeyed and died. Many tenants who survived now live with trauma and grief. They have lost everything, all the possessions they accumulated in their lives. They left Grenfell Tower, shocked, traumatised and dispossessed. Since the tragedy they have been continually treated with suspicion and disrespect. A lot of these survivors are still dispossessed, still do not have a permanent place to call their home. A lot of these people are children and they will continue to suffer as a result of societies' prejudice, division and indifference. If there is going to be real justice for Grenfell, then the people responsible will be named and brought to book. The tenants who lost everything and are left with trauma will be recompensed with a home. Lastly, society will treat all people with respect and not just the people in nice houses.
My heart goes out to all the survivors of Grenfell Tower.
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